Angry in the Great White North

I'm going against the tide here when it comes to other Conservative blogs in the matter of Peter MacKay and the dog comment:

Conservatives are not only supporting Peter MacKay -- a handful of them on the Internet are going even further in comparing Belinda Stronach to a dog.

The foreign minister's alleged slur against his ex-girlfriend has been picked up on a variety of pro-Conservative websites and many offer MacKay their wholehearted support.

Some go even farther than MacKay might have Thursday in the House of Commons.

"Peter MacKay should be ashamed: dogs deserve better,'' said Dispatches from the Socialist Gulag, one site linked to by the official Blogging Tories website.

The Politic.com, another blog listed on the Tory blogs site, said: "MacKay should apologize . . . to his dog.''

Yet another website ran a spoof letter from a group of dogs headlined: "We Demand An Apology.''

OK, har-har. But here's the problem. I don't care that Peter MacKay doesn't like Belinda Stronach. I don't care that he called her a name (if in fact he did, since there is some debate, but let's say he did). I don't care that some women find the comment sexist and demeaning -- hey, it's an insult, what did you expect?

Here's my problem -- MacKay and every other members of parliament ought to keep their personal issues out of the House as much as possible. It's hard, of course. We're all human, and it's a challenge at times to keep the various facets of our lives separate. But even though we can understand his failing in this incident, it doesn't mean that it ought to be ignored. If MacKay said what has been alleged, he ought to apologize for giving vent to his personal feelings in the workplace. Stick to the work, and indulge in the sniping outside of the office.

Should he apologize to Belinda Stronach? Honestly, that's up to him. But he owes me an apology. And you too. And all other Canadian taxpayers. We're paying for him to work. Leave the squabbling outside.

And the same goes for Belinda. She should show some class and stop posing in front of cameras and microphones to demand an apology. She ought to let it be known that she considers it a private matter, as it should be. If MacKay has any class, he'll offer a public apology anyway.

After the apology is delivered, I'm hoping that the two of them shut the hell up. At least until they grow up.